Channel Surfing: Olivia Munn Tackles Chuck, Scott Porter Investigates The Good Wife, Chris Isaak Could Replace Simon, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. A few things to get through before I hit the road for San Diego and Comic-Con.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Olivia Munn (the newly minted Daily Show correspondent) will guest star on NBC's Chuck this fall when the series returns for its fourth season on September 20th. Munn, who is a series regular on NBC's midseason comedy Perfect Couples, will play "an impossibly cool, smart, and pretty CIA agent who intimidates and schools Chuck and Morgan" in the same installment that features Dolph Lundgren. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other scoop, Ausiello writes that former Friday Night Lights star Scott Porter will be joining the cast of CBS' The Good Wife this fall. Porter, whose CW pilot Nomads was not ordered to series, will play Blake, described as "Kalinda’s private-eye counterpart at the D.C. firm that’s merging with Lockhart & Gardner" who "offsets his cynical attitude with lots of hidden humor and sexual charisma. He is disguised as a landlord when he first encounters Kalinda, who doesn’t appreciate being taken in by this ‘master of disguise.’ However, underneath their fractious interactions, there’s definite chemistry between these two." Porter is expected to appear in at least ten episodes of The Good Wife's second season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Wicked Game? Singer Chris Issak is among the frontrunners to replace Simon Cowell on FOX's American Idol, as is Harry Connick Jr. while Bret Michaels and Donald Trump have each lobbied to replace Cowell for the tenth season of Idol. "The network is determined to land a widely known music industry figure for the post, and THR has learned that singer Chris Isaak has met twice with the network," write James Hibberd and Kim Masters. "Also, at least one desirable candidate has set off a tug-of-war between Idol executive producer Simon Fuller and Cowell -- whose upcoming Fox singing competition The X Factor is similarly seeking judges." Hmmm... (Hollywood Reporter)

Syfy has announced that the back half of Season One of Caprica will not air until January 2011, a sizable delay given that the first half of the season wrapped in the end of March. Here's how Syfy is positioning the remainder of the season: "In season 1.5, the once idyllic world of Caprica – as well as life across the colonies – falls prey to an explosive chain reaction of consequences set off by the characters’ many questionable actions in the season’s first half. Tensions rise, power shifts and the line between reality and the virtual world becomes increasingly blurred as everyone struggles to learn – and conquer – the stakes in this volatile setting. As the season races towards its stunning conclusion, events of each episode lay the framework for the inevitable (and brutal) clash between the newly-created Cylon race and their human creators." (via press release)

Universal Media Studios has signed a deal with The Office writer/co-star B.J. Novak that will keep him aboard the NBC comedy series for two more seasons and will be bumped to an executive producer title halfway through the series' upcoming seventh season. He'll also develop new projects for the studio as well. "B.J. has been an integral part of The Office since the launch of the show," said Angela Bromstad, NBC's president of primetime entertainment. "Whether he's in the writing room or appearing on screen, we always get the smart, sophisticated, ridiculously funny humor from him that the fans have come to love." (Variety)

Mark your calendars: HBO has announced that Bored to Death and Eastbound and Down will return for their second seasons on Sunday, September 26th at 10 pm and 10:30 pm ET/PT respectively. (via press release)

TVGuide.com's Denise Martin is reporting that Katherine Moenning (The L Word) will guest star in the upcoming season of Showtime's serial killer drama Dexter, where she will play a tattoo artist appearing in one episode. "How she'll become embroiled in the serial killer's world remains unknown," writes Martin. The fifth season of Dexter launches Sunday, September 26th at 9 pm ET/PT. (TVGuide.com)

Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) will be dropping by ABC's The Middle for the second season premiere, airing September 22nd. She'll play a new teacher for Brick who is "an intimidating force to be reckoned with" and "'strong' opinions about Frankie's parenting methods." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

File under strange but true: CBS' drama pilot Chaos, the subject of a lively back and forth between the network and studio 20th Century Fox Television, is allegedly alive again, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "The resurrection process took a step forward yesterday when CBS' entertainment president Nina Tassler had lunch with 20th TV chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman to discuss the matter," writes Andreeva. "I hear the Brett Ratner-directed Chaos is now back on track for a midseason series order at CBS, possibly as a co-production between 20th TV and CBS TV Studios. The only major obstacle is bringing back the cast, led by Freddy Rodriguez, which was released on June 30 when the actors' options expired. I hear the actors have been approached about returning and things look optimistic on that front." (Deadline)

If you were worried that the cast of MTV's Jersey Shore wouldn't be back for a third season, you can rest easy today: the entire cast has renegotiated their contracts and will be approximately $30,000 per episode for Season Three. [Editor: the sound you hear? Me gagging.] (The Wrap)

ABC Family is launching new comedy Melissa & Joey on Tuesday, August 17th, with two back-to-back episodes at 8 and 8:30 pm ET/PT. (via press release)

Cinemax is resurrecting the thriller anthology genre with a new latenight series Femme Fatales, based on the magazine. Format will be a half-hour anthology, airing in a latenight slot with a narrator introducing short-form thrillers. Project, which has received a series order, is executive produced by Mark A. Altman and Steve Kriozere. (Hollywood Reporter)

Bert Salke will replace Chris Carlisle as the president of Fox21, the subdivision of 20th Century Fox Television that specializes in cable and reality programming. He is expected to start in August and will report to Dana Walden and Gary Newman. (Deadline)

FremantleMedia has teamed up with Mark Sennett Entertainment and Headline Pictures to develop period racing drama The Drivers, which will be based on Wallace A. Wyss' book, "Shelby: The Man, the Cars, the Legend." Series will revolve around a group of drivers from US and Europe who race for the top prize at Le Mans and will be set in either the 1950s or 1960s. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

ABC Renews "Modern Family," "The Middle," and "Cougar Town"

Breaking from TCA Winter Press Tour:

Stephen McPherson, ABC Entertainment Group President, has announced the second season renewals for Modern Family, The Middle, and Cougar Town. McPherson also indicated that each of the series would air more than the traditional 22 episodes this season.

The full press release from ABC announcing the pickups can be found below.

ABC ANNOUNCES EARLY PICK-UPS OF HIT WEDNESDAY NIGHT COMEDIES
“COUGAR TOWN,” “THE MIDDLE” AND “MODERN FAMILY” FOR THE 2010-2011 SEASON

Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment Group, announced early pick-ups of hit Wednesday night comedies “Cougar Town,” “The Middle” and “Modern Family” for the 2010-2011 Season today at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour.

“Cougar Town” (Wednesdays from 9:30-10:00 p.m., ET)

Courteney Cox, who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for her role on the show, stars as Jules, a newly divorced single mother exploring the honest truths about dating and aging in our beauty and youth obsessed culture. While most women in their twenties go through life experiencing the challenges and often humorous pitfalls of meeting men, Jules took on the responsibilities of marriage and raising a son. Now in her forties, she embarks on a journey to self-discovery.

The second-most-watched new comedy on television this season, behind only “Modern Family,” ABC’s “Cougar Town” ranks No. 2 on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. in Adults, Men and Women 18-34. The freshman comedy is also improving the time period year to year for ABC by wide margins across the key Men demos: M18-34 +50%, M18-49 +63% and M25-54 +43%. On its most-recent telecast (1/6/10), “Cougar Town” marked its highest viewer and young adult numbers in nearly 2 months – since 10/14/09.

“Cougar Town” stars Courteney Cox as Jules, Christa Miller as Ellie, Busy Philipps as Laurie, Dan Byrd as Travis, Josh Hopkins as Grayson, Ian Gomez as Andy and Brian Van Holt as Bobby.

Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs,” “Spin City”) serves as executive producer/writer/director, Kevin Biegel (“Scrubs”) as executive producer/writer, and Courteney Cox and David Arquette are executive producers. The series is produced by ABC Studios.

“The Middle” (Wednesdays from 8:30-9:00 p.m., ET)

Emmy-winner Patricia Heaton stars in this warm and witty single-camera comedy about raising a family and lowering your expectations.

Frankie Heck is a superhero. Well, no, not an actual superhero — not unless you count getting her kids out the door for school every morning as a superfeat. Middle-aged, middle class and living in the middle of the country, this harried wife and working mother of three uses her wry wit and sense of humor to try to get her family through each day intact. Frankie has a job selling cars at the town’s only surviving car dealer, while her husband, Mike, is a manager at the local quarry. In between juggling shifts and picking up fast food dinners eaten in front of the TV, Frankie and Mike raise their kids with love and solid Midwestern practicality.

Building on its lead-in Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. among viewers and young adults, “The Middle” is delivering solid year-to-year improvement to the time period for ABC. On average, “The Middle” is boosting ABC’s numbers in the half-hour over the same point last season by +1.2 million viewers and by +5% in Adults 18-49. On its most-recent telecast (1/6/10), “The Middle” hit series highs in key Adults (AD18-49/AD25-54), Men 18-49 and across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).

“The Middle” stars Patricia Heaton as Frankie, Neil Flynn as Mike, Charlie McDermott as Axl, Eden Sher as Sue, Atticus Shaffer as Brick and Chris Kattan as Bob.

Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline are the creators and executive producers of “The Middle,” which is a production of Warner Bros. Television.

“Modern Family” (Wednesdays from 9:00-9:30 p.m., ET)

Today’s American families come in all shapes and sizes. The cookie cutter mold of man + wife + 2.5 kids is a thing of the past, as it becomes quickly apparent in the bird’s eye view of ABC’s half-hour comedy, “Modern Family,” which takes an honest and often hilarious look at the composition and complexity of family life today.

TV’s most-watched new comedy overall this season, ABC’s “Modern Family” is a strong competitor on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. The ABC freshman comedy is a solid second in its half-hour to CBS’ veteran “Criminal Minds” in viewers and young adults, while ranking No. 1 with key Men (M18-34/M18-49). On its most-recent airing (1/6/10), “Modern Family” posted best-since-debut numbers in viewers and young adults, while hitting series-high ratings with key Men (M18-49/M25-54).

In its first season, “Modern Family” has already been honored with some of the industry’s most prestigious award nominations. Thus far the show has been nominated for a Golden Globe, Writers Guild, Directors Guild and Art Directors Guild awards, and the cast has received a SAG nomination for their performance. The series was also recognized by the AFI as one of the top 10 TV programs of 2010.

“Modern Family” stars Ed O’Neill as Jay, Julie Bowen as Claire, Ty Burrell as Phil, Sofía Vergara as Gloria, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, Sarah Hyland as Haley, Nolan Gould as Luke, Ariel Winter as Alex and Rico Rodriguez as Manny.

The series is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television in association with Levitan Lloyd Productions. Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd are executive producers/creators. Jason Winer is co-executive producer.

Channel Surfing: Drea de Matteo Moves to Wisteria Lane, Meloni and Hargitay Return to "Law & Order: SVU," Showtime Axes "Brotherhood," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Sons of Anarchy's Drea de Matteo (best known as The Sopranos' Adrianna) is joining the cast of ABC's Desperate Housewives next season as a series regular, reports Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. De Matteo will play "the matriarch of a new Italian family," writes Ausiello. "Casting is underway for her landscape designer husband and their tightly wound son." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay WILL be coming back to NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit next season, after all. The duo have finally signed deals that will keep them in the lead roles on the NBC drama series for the next two seasons and will be paid just slightly less than $400,000 per episode. Neal Baer also closed a deal to remain on board the series as showrunner and Christine Lahti (Jack & Bobby) has signed on to guest star in the first four episodes of next season's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as an ADA, while Stephanie March will appear in at least ten episodes next season. (Variety, Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Showtime has confirmed to E! Online's Watch with Kristin that it has canceled drama series Brotherhood and will not be returning the series for a fourth season. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

My Name is Earl creator Greg Garcia has landed a put pilot deal at FOX for an untitled single-camera comedy about a 25-year-old man who has a one-night stand with a woman on death row for murder and then has to raise the resulting baby with his family. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television, will be written by Garcia. (Variety)

SCI FI Wire spoke to Edward James Olmos and Grace Park about what to viewers should expect from Battlestar Galactica prequel telepic The Plan, which Olmos directed. "What their plan was, I think that's a big surprise," said Olmos. "Finding out what the plan was and how it was structured and how close they were to completing it." Park said that there's more than meets the eye with The Plan. "[There is more than] the obvious, which is what was the Cylon perspective," said Park. "If they had a plan, what their plan was, what it entailed. I think besides that, [The Plan shows] probably how alike or unlike humans they really are." (SCI FI Wire)

CBS is launching seven-episode reality competition series There Goes the Neighborhood, in which eight suburban families are enclosed by a twenty-foot wall in compete for a cash prize of $250,000, on Sunday, August 9th. (via press release)

Chris Kattan (Saturday Night Live) has been upgraded from guest star to series regular on ABC comedy The Middle, where he plays car salesman Bob, a co-worker and friend to Frankie Heck (Patricia Heaton). He'll next be seen in IFC's three-part Bollywood Hero. (Hollywood Reporter)

SOAPNet has renewed Canadian drama Being Erica for a second season of twelve episodes that is slated to air early next year, according to Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider. "Sources say the next season will find Erica (Erin Karpluk) learning more about the dynamics of time travel," writes Jennifer Armstrong, "and will reveal more about her enigmatic psychiatrist, Dr. Tom (Michael Riley)." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

VH1 ordered three new series including an eight-episode untitled reality project starring Salt-N-Pepa's Sandra "Pepa" Denton as she looks for love after a "self-imposed romantic and sexual dormancy," an untitled eight-episode project starring TLC's Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas as she also looks for love, this time with the help of relationship expert Tionna Smalls, and an untitled ten-episode docusoap featuring Frank "the Entertainer" Moresco from I Love NY as he looks for love and tries to move out of his parents' basement. The cabler also renewed Celebrity Fit Club for a seventh season and Sober House with Dr. Drew for a second season. (Variety)

Danneel Harris will reprise her role as Rachel Gatina in at least seven episodes of the CW's One Tree Hill next season after she was written out of the series in Season Five. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Stay tuned.

Pilot Inspektor: An Advance Review of ABC's "The Middle"

My favorite thing about ABC's new comedy series The Middle might just be youngest son Brick, played with unapologetic realness by Atticus Shaffer.

I had the opportunity a few weeks back to watch the full pilot episode of The Middle, which launches on ABC this fall on Wednesday evenings, and was instantly enchanted by Shaffer's adorably awkward Brick, a boy who continually refers to his mother as his "hero" (but not quite for the reasons you might think), who whispers to himself because it makes him feel good, and who embodies all the bizarre quirks and foibles that many of us carried around for a bit in childhood.

Created by Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline of NBC's Lipstick Jungle, The Middle tells the story of the Hecks, a very average middle-class family living in Middle America... or the middle of Indiana to be precise. If I'm being honest I'll say that I've been more or less in love with this winsome script for the past few years; the project itself has been developed several times over and was even shot as a pilot with Ricki Lake two development seasons ago. (The aforementioned Shaffer is the only cast holdover.)

Now the series stars Patricia Heaton (Back to You) as the oft-put-upon Frankie Heck, a suburban wife and mother who tries to keep her kids and husband in line and keep chaos at bay while she works as a (rather unsuccessful) car salesman. Her husband Mike (Scrubs' Neil Flynn) is the manager of a local quarry and approaches the workplace-related injuries with the same lackadaisical manner one might address a child's skinned knee. Eldest son Alex (Frozen River's Charlie McDermott) is a typically sullen teenage boy, one with a penchant for walking around in his boxers and nothing else. Middle child Sue (Eden Sher), meanwhile, doesn't seem to have any noticeable talents but that hasn't stopped her from trying out for a variety of school teams and clubs with painfully expected results. (Her pummel horse jump is a master class in gut-wrenching embarrassment.) And then there's the adorably bizarre Brick whose ticks are endearingly off-putting. ("Sorry...")

They're the type of family who considers quality time eating dinner and begrudgingly catching each other up on their days during the commercial breaks on Dancing with the Stars. In other words, the Hecks are just like a zillion other American families, albeit with some more fully realized neuroses.

If the above sounds a bit like FOX's own family comedy Malcolm in the Middle, you'd be right. Both The Middle and Malcolm in the Middle (which even sound alike) dealt with the everyday messiness of family life with a heightened sense of reality that made our own days seem relatively normal in comparison.

Like the family preserved for eternity on Malcolm in the Middle, the Hecks have a mother struggling to keep things together, a father whose parenting style can be described kindly as laissez-faire, a troubled older son, and a oddball younger son. (Just sub the brainiac Malcolm for a skills-deficient Sue and change the POV from the middle kid to the harried mother and you're set.)

Which doesn't diminish the charms of The Middle at all. As I mentioned before Shaffer absolutely kills as Brick, who springs it on his poor, overworked mother that she will have to create a superhero costume and turn up at his school for a book report... the day before she's meant to be there. (Hint: it's why he kept whispering that Frankie was his "hero.") Frankie, meanwhile, contends with a ghastly driver's license picture that makes her seem haggard (she colors her grey hair with a black magic marker as a result) and a host of problems from each of her kids. Sue lands a spot in show choir... with some added painfulness this time around.

I'm not a huge fan of Patricia Heaton in general, which is a real shame as Frankie Heck is a fantastic female character. Heaton seems nearly manic with her performance and it's jarring at times with the messy sweetness of the overall pilot and I wanted her to calm down a little more from the outset, even if Frankie is a mess internally. Flynn is as fantastically nuanced as ever and the kids are all well-cast.

But the standout performance really is the inimitable Atticus Shaffer, who gives The Middle much of its zing and freshness. Rarely has there been a television kid with such perfect timing (watch the scene where he shills a car for his mother's potential sale) and such oddness in one package.

Ultimately, The Middle is a cute and rather sweet half-hour about the trials and tribulations of the average American family in an age of bad credit, massive unemployment, and energy-sapping technological development. It's also about how even in the most mundane of situations, there's humor, joy, and love to be found in just about every home.



The Middle will air Wednesdays at 8:30 pm ET/PT this fall on ABC.